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Deb's Daily Bread

Cultured Yogurt “Cream Cheese”

4/19/2020

I started making this cheese about three weeks ago and I can’t get enough of it. I used it to spread on bagels with some lox, I added it to a French omelet with chives, I eat it as a spread with some honey drizzled on top. It’s got a lovely tang but retains all the probiotics from the yogurt during the cheese making process. Making the cheese itself is easy. However, first you have to make the yogurt!

Cultured cream cheese is different from the regular cream cheese. So this process is a little different than the traditional "cream cheese."

First, the milk you use matters. I buy unhomogenized milk from local farmers- preferably with slow pasteurization. I bought Greek yogurt cultures from CulturesforHealth.com.

I heated a 1/2 gallon of milk to 190F SLOWLY - not more than 1 degree per minute in an enamel pot. It's really important to stir continuously as it's heating up and as it's cooling down to prevent scorching or skin formation.

Once it came to temperature, I took it off the heat and let it cool to 110F.

Once it reaches 110F, add the cultures. If you have a previous batch of yogurt, just add a 1/2 cup of yogurt to 1/2 gallon of milk. Stir slowly until fully incorporated.

I then put the milk in quart-sized canning jars and put it in my bread proof box at 110F. If you don’t have a proof box that lets you set the temperature, you can put it into a cooler wrapped in a blanket with jugs of hot water around it and close the lid.

It needs to remain at 110F for 12 hours.

Okay – that was the hardest part!! Everything else is easy.

After 12 hours, take the jars out and check to see if they set. If it looks like custard and pulls away in a semi-solid state, it's ready. Put the jars in the fridge. It needs to sit in the fridge for another 6-12 hours to fully set. Now you have yogurt.

To take it to cream cheese, line a colander with muslin and hang the colander over a tall bowl or pot (tall enough for it to drain). Put the yogurt into the muslin and then tie it up. Let it hang in the fridge for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, take it out and put it in a bowl. Add about 1/4 tsp of salt and whip it with a whisk. Return the whipped cheese to the muslin and put it into a ricotta pot - something that has holes on the bottom - a small flowerpot could work. then put a bowl underneath it (I use takeout Tupperware) and a can on top to weigh it down. Put it in the fridge. It takes between 5 and 7 days to cure.

English Muffins from Sourdough Discard

4/19/2020

Because we are still in quarantine and flour is scarce, I am only feeding my starter enough to bake the loaves I want, then putting it in the fridge until I am ready to bake again. However, it needs a few feeds before it’s ready for bread each time. Yesterday, I took out my starter and fed it 1:1:1 with whey and bread flour, and then fed it again about 12 hours later with 1:2 whey/bread flour. It was so happy by morning that it looked like beautiful bubbly dough. I gave it another feed this morning but wanted to create something fabulous with the discard.

I went back to an old tried and true recipe from King Arthur Flour, but I had to modify it to accommodate for my lack of ingredients while in quarantine. I think the result is actually much better than when I used the KAF formula exactly. KAF’s recipe called for 227g of starter discard, but I only had 160g of fed active starter. So instead, I took out another 20g of unfed starter and gave it 20g of buttermilk and 27g of AP flour. I combined this freshly fed starter with my previously fed starter discard to get to 227g of active and fed starter. The buttermilk also helped resolve the missing citric salt and dried milk ingredients. I used the last of my whey (1/4 cup) and mixed it with 1 1/3 cups of warm (90F) water.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp sugar 1 1/3 cup warm water ¼ cup whey 1Tbsp active dry yeast 160g sourdough starter discard (ripe) 180g freshly fed discard 20g unfed starter 20g buttermilk (real cultured milk) 20g AP flour 843g AP flour 57g (1/4 cup) butter cut into cubes 1 Tbsp bread salt Cornmeal for coating

1)First, feed the smaller starter with the buttermilk and flour, and combine with the remaining normally fed starter for a total of 227g of starter. Then combine everything except the liquid and the salt in a mixer on low speed. Slowly add in the liquid until combined. Let it rest 5 minutes and then add the salt. Mix for 5 minutes (use a timer).

2)You should have a fairly firm dough (the mixing bowl should be relatively clean). Turn the dough out and knead into a ball. Place it into an oiled bowl (large enough for it to expand) and cover. This first ferment takes between an hour and a half to two hours. However, you can also put it in the fridge and let it ferment for 24 hours and resume baking the following day.

3)Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured work surface. (In a flour shortage, I used Peter Reinhardt’s technique of lightly oiling my work surface and my hands with olive oil). Give it a gentle knead and then cover it with a damp tea towel for about 5 minutes (this step is important because otherwise the dough will be too elastic to roll properly). Divide the dough in half. Roll the first piece ½” thick and cut 4” rounds (the ones shown in the picture were cut with 3” rounds and they were very small). Then repeat with the second half. You can re-roll the scraps too.

4)Place the shaped muffins onto a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal (approx. 12 per sheet). Sprinkle additional cornmeal over the tops. Cover with either loose plastic wrap or lightly dampened tea towels and allow them to rise for about 40-60 minutes.

5)I like to cook English muffins in a cast iron pan. I heat the cast iron to about 350F and cook them on each side until the centers read 190F. I find that after the initial heating in the cast iron, I have to turn the flame down to low, so they don’t burn on the bottoms before cooking through.

6)Remove and cool them on a rack. Then eat and enjoy!

Here are the differences that I noticed between the original recipe and my modifications:
The buttermilk and whey gave it an incredible flavor. The cold butter cubes helped make them flaky.

Stuffed Cabbage

4/18/2020

Stuffed Cabbage is old world comfort food. My grandmother used to make this when I was a kid. It's hearty on a cold evening and feeds the soul along with the body.

Sauce:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion diced
2 28 oz crushed tomatoes
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup honey
1/2 cup raisins
1 ½ tsp sea salt
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large head of green or Savoy cabbage Optional – fresh oregano leaves.

Filling:
1lb ground beef
1lb ground lamb
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup minced onions
½ cup breadcrumbs or matzoh meal
½ cup uncooked rice ¼ cup raisins
1 ½ tsp sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
            First bring a pot of water to boil (big enough to fit the whole cabbage) and submerge the cabbage in it for two minutes and remove, then put the cabbage into cold water. Drain it and gently peel the outer leaves (If you like big rolls, you will need 10. If you like smaller ones, you will need about 14-15).

            Preheat the oven to 350F.

            Next start the sauce by sautéing the onions with the olive oil in a Dutch oven on medium heat until they become translucent. Then add the vinegar, honey, salt and pepper, raisins, and crushed tomatoes. If you have some fresh oregano, you can add it here. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for about 20-30 min.

            While the sauce is cooking, mix the meat, onions, eggs, salt and pepper, rice, breadcrumbs and raisins into a large bowl until completely combined.

            Cut the large vein from the center of the cabbage leaves to make it easier to fold. Then add (just shy of a fist full for large, about 2-3” for small rolls) the meat mixture and roll. You can use toothpicks to hold them in place.

            I like to nestle the rolls into the Dutch oven, cover it and bake it for about an hour and a half on 350F. Remove them from the oven and serve!

Deb

I'm a home cook with a lifelong passion for learning, exploring and experimenting in my kitchen. You can find me at @Debs1 on Twitter and @Debs121212 on Instagram.

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